Westerly Seahawk 35 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design Brief & Intent

The primary mission of the Westerly Seahawk 35 was comfortable, long-distance family cruising with an emphasis on liveaboard volume. Unlike many of its contemporary French rivals that prioritized lightweight, mass-production techniques and aft-cockpit layouts, Westerly committed to a robust, center-cockpit configuration on a heavy-displacement hull. This design philosophy aimed squarely at cruisers who valued structural security and interior accommodation over outright racing speed.

One of the boat’s defining characteristics is its beam of 12 feet 6 inches, which is carried remarkably far aft. This hull form allowed Dubois to carve out a palatial, full-width master cabin beneath the aft deck, complete with a large double berth, a settee, and a vanity unit. This aft cabin was a major selling point, easily rivaling the accommodations of much larger yachts of the era.

Down below, the Seahawk 35 exhibits the solid, traditional woodwork characteristic of late-1980s British yacht building. Bulkheads and joinery are primarily finished in high-quality teak veneer, though some later units featured a lighter ash interior in an effort to modernize and brighten the living space. The layout includes a secure, U-shaped galley in the port-side walkthrough to the aft cabin, providing excellent bracing for cooking at sea. Opposite the galley, a dedicated navigation station sits adjacent to the companionway. The main saloon features a centerline folding table and comfortable settee berths, while a separate V-berth cabin occupies the bow, providing comfortable separation for two couples.

Variations & Configurations

While the Seahawk 35 shares its core hull and deck molds with its sibling, the aft-cockpit Falcon 35, it was offered with two distinct keel configurations that significantly altered its cruising capabilities:

Fin Keel: This configuration features a single cast-iron fin keel drawing 4 feet 11 inches. The fin keel offers superior windward pointing ability, less leeway, and overall better maneuverability in tight quarters. It is favored by owners prioritizing passage-making efficiency and those sailing in deeper waters.
Twin (Bilge) Keel: Designed specifically for the tidal estuaries of the United Kingdom and Northern Europe, the twin-keel version draws just 3 feet 11 inches. It features two asymmetric, splayed bilge keels that allow the boat to dry out upright on sandy or muddy bottoms 6. While highly practical for drying moorings and shallow-water cruising, this variant compromises pointing angles and increases drag compared to the fin keel.

The standard rig for the Seahawk 35 is a masthead sloop with aluminum spars supplied by Seldén (often badged as Kemp). Many left the factory with in-mast mainsail furling, which was highly popular for short-handed cruising at the time, while others were rigged with traditional slab-reefing mainsails.

Sailing Performance & Handling

The sailing dynamics of the Seahawk 35 are defined by its robust proportions and substantial hull form. With a displacement-to-length (D/L) ratio of 317.53, the boat sits firmly within the heavy-displacement cruising category. In physical terms, this means the boat is not a light-wind racer; it requires a decent breeze to overcome its hull inertia. However, once moving, the Seahawk 35 carries its momentum exceptionally well.

Its comfort ratio of 26.27 translates to a highly reassuring, predictable motion in a seaway. The hull does not slam into head seas, and its motion is kindly and slow-rolling, which greatly reduces crew fatigue on long passages. This sea-keeping ability is enhanced by an impressive ballast-to-displacement ratio of 40.79%. This high ballast ratio makes the Seahawk 35 exceptionally stiff, allowing it to stand up to its canvas and maintain a low angle of heel even when the wind pipes up.

The capsize screening ratio of 2.03 places the Seahawk 35 right on the typical boundary for serious offshore work. While not designed for aggressive ocean racing, its heavy build and hull shape make it a very safe, dry, and capable coastal and blue-water passagemaker 8.

From the helm, the center-cockpit position provides an excellent, high-visibility view of the sea, and the deep cockpit coamings offer superb protection from wind and spray 9. The trade-off for this high cockpit sole—which is elevated to preserve headroom in the walkthrough below—is a high boom and a high coachroof profile. This setup can slightly restrict the helmsman’s view of the leeward bow under the foot of a large genoa, requiring extra vigilance when navigating crowded waterways.

Market Snapshot & Economics

Because only around 40 units of the Seahawk 35 were constructed, the model is relatively scarce on the brokerage market, particularly outside of the United Kingdom and Northern Europe. It commands a modest price premium over its predecessor, the Seahawk 34, primarily because the sugar-scoop transom is highly favored by modern buyers for easy boarding, dinghy management, and swimming.

In relative terms, the Seahawk 35 represents excellent value for money for sailors seeking a solid, Lloyds-certified blue-water cruiser under 36 feet. However, the economics of purchasing a Seahawk 35 today are heavily influenced by the condition of its original equipment. Buyers should budget for the near-certainty of addressing typical late-1980s build issues unless previous owners have already undertaken major refits 10. A boat that has already been repowered and had its interior headlinings renewed is highly prized and easily justifies a higher initial acquisition cost.

Known Issues & Triage

Prospective owners should be aware of several well-documented technical issues common to Westerlys of this vintage:

Osmotic Blistering: The polyester resins used by Westerly Marine in the late 1980s are notoriously susceptible to osmosis. Many Seahawks, especially those kept in warmer waters like the Mediterranean, have developed significant blistering beneath the waterline. While rarely structurally fatal, addressing severe osmosis requires hauling the boat, peeling the gelcoat, drying the hull thoroughly (often utilizing hot-vacuum pads), and applying a multi-coat epoxy barrier system.
The "Westerly Droop" (Headlinings): Westerly utilized a foam-backed vinyl for the cabin headlinings 10. Over time, the foam backing degrades into a sticky, crumbly orange dust, causing the vinyl to sag away from the fiberglass deckhead. Replacing this headlining is a labor-intensive DIY project or an expensive professional job. The accepted permanent fix is to remove the old vinyl, scrape away the degraded foam, and install marine-grade plywood panels wrapped in new vinyl, which are then screwed into battened receivers.
Keel Joint Movement (Twin Keel Models): On bilge-keel variants that have spent years on drying berths, the constant lateral grounding loads can stress the keel-to-hull joints 6. This can result in a hairline crack at the joint (often called the "Westerly smile") or water weeping around the keel bolts. Triage involves dropping the keels, replacing the structural backing washers and plates, re-bedding the keels with high-flexibility epoxy sealants, and torqueing the keel bolts to factory specifications.
Volvo Penta MD2003 Engine Wear: The standard factory-installed engine was the three-cylinder, 28-horsepower Volvo Penta MD2003. While robust, these engines are now nearly four decades old. A critical known issue is the wear on the splines of the gearbox output shaft, which can slip and cause drive failure. Raw water pump seals are also prone to slow leaks that can drip unnoticed onto the motor mount beds.

Modernization & Upgrades

Many veteran Seahawk owners have invested heavily in modernizing these platforms, making them highly capable cruisers by modern standards:

Repowering: Replacing the original Volvo Penta MD2003 with a modern, fresh-water-cooled diesel engine is the most common major upgrade. The Beta Marine 30 or Beta 35, based on the highly reliable Kubota block, is the most popular choice. These modern engines are significantly lighter, run much quieter, have lower emissions, and provide superior electrical generation via high-output alternators.
Rigging Conversions: Early in-mast mainsail furling systems were prone to jamming if the mast pre-bend or halyard tension was not perfectly tuned. Many owners have modernized their rigs by converting to a fully battened, slab-reefing mainsail paired with a modern drop-bag (lazy jack stack-pack). This configuration drastically improves mainsail shape, windward performance, and reliability.
Electrical and Energy Autonomy: Thanks to the wide stern and sturdy pushpit, many owners install a stainless-steel stern gantry to support modern solar arrays and wind generators. This, combined with a conversion to lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) house battery banks, allows the Seahawk 35 to operate completely off-grid, easily running modern 12V refrigeration and watermakers.